Because Slow is Faster and Fast is Merely Exhausting!

Life as a Playground

Life offers multiple opportunities to play, even at work. It really comes down to how you approach things.

According to research, our brains are sharpest 2 1/2 to four hours after waking up. So if you are an early riser, you’re looking at your peak time before noon. I am one of those people. I craft my most creative work before 10 am, then slump by 2 o’clock. That’s why I usually save my mundane tasks for the afternoon when smart thinking is less needed.

If we are familiar with our biorhythm, we will stop fighting against our own nature and work according to our inner clock. If you are lucky, you will have a boss that understands this.

Does work have to be hard? No, it doesn’t. I don’t know who made up that rule, but it seems to have seeped into our collective psyche that work has nothing to do with life at all – that life equals pleasure and work equals everything else. Thus the term work-life balance. As if work wasn’t a part of our lives, but something that offsets it.

As my daughter thinks about her own future, I try to convey to her that while there are certain things she won’t like about her job, she should at least love some parts of it. In fact, if you love most of what you do every day, you are going to be a much happier person.

Joy can be had wherever you are – even at the auto mechanic’s. Spread it far and wide. Dance in the light of your own private celebration of life, which includes work and the people that populate that space too.

Life can be a playground if you let it – even at the workplace.

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Christine Louise Hohlbaum is a recovering speedaholic and the author of The Power of Slow. She works as a professional storyteller (PR, translations, books) from the home she shares with her children in Freiburg, Germany.